GOD’S “TIME TO DIE”

In 2015 as a Church we were led to focus on the Theme Verse 12:13 in The Book of Ecclesiastes: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” One key teaching from the words of the “Teacher” was in Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens“. For Elder Choo Chin Teck it was to experience on 16 December 2015 God’s “Time to die”.
He preached to us in the beginning of the year on 18 January – “Pursuit of Wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18). Then at the end of the year, his message to us was: “Prepared and Persevering Before Christ’s Return” (1Thessalonians 5:1-11). On Sunday 11 October he was preaching to us but by Sunday 18 October he was in hospital and diagnosed with a rare form of malignant lung cancer. He never left the hospital and in spite of Singapore’s best medical cancer care and a multitude of continual incessant prayers of family, Church and friends, our good and merciful God did what was best for Elder Choo Chin Teck. On early morning of 16 December, it was God’s “Time to die” for our dear beloved Elder. God took our good and faithful Elder to where He is – safe in the arms of Jesus. He was almost 71 years old, his birthday falling on 23 January. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
We will never fully understand why God chose to take our Elder Choo Chin Teck to be where He is but we know that God knows best. Our Elder had only recently retired from his many years of excellent God honouring service with the Kepple Group. He was looking forward to spend time in our upcoming Church development project which will commence in early 2016 – a project he was very much involved with these past many years. He was also looking forward to transitioning our Church into a Pastoral Team form of Church, and maybe even being the first Pastor-Elder of BKC. But God had other plans for our dear Elder – He chose for Elder Choo Chin Teck to spend quality time with the Triune God and the heavenly throng. God always knows best and we should never second guess Him in His dealings with us. For all of us there is always God’s “Time to die”. Meanwhile as taught by 2015’s Church Theme -“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.“